Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Farm chores day

I usually get up around 3 or 4 a.m. Today I was able to get my teaching paperwork done between 3 and 6 a.m., leaving me the rest of the day to do farm chores and a couple of hours of hunting at sunset. I got a lot done.

Our temperatures in North Idaho are dropping down into the 20's and teens this week, so I rigged some heat for our chickens. Securely chained a red heat lamp to a beam in the chicken coop. Who knows, it may even increase egg production. I'm sure the ladies have been cold at night. I fixed a feeder and filled a newly sterilized waterer for them.

The previous owners left us with a lifetime supply of manure in the barn, so I shoveled manure for a while into the loader on the tractor. Then off to make a pile in the garden area. Who knows how old the manure is. The area I am cleaning is where we are going to house the pigs, so it needs to be cleaned anyway.

The barn's foundation, about 100 years old and made of field stone, is crumbling in a few places, so I shored it up with some concrete blocks and 2x4's that were laying around. I'll have to get around to a more permanent repair later.

Made a counterweight out of an old 55 gallon drum sawed in half and filled with gravel for the tractor. The weight goes on the rear hydraulics to balance out the loader when we are moving snow this winter.

After all that...I relaxed a little then went deer hunting for a couple of hours. It was a peaceful and spiritual hunt, but not productive as far as filling the freezer.